Ventilators



July .21, 1959 Filed July 3, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet I l. J. OHEA VENTILATORS July 21, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 3, 1956 I. J. O'HEA VENTILATORS July 21, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet '5 I Filed July 3, 1956 July 21, 1959 l. J. O'HEA VENTILATORS 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed July 3, 1956 I. J. O'HEA VENTILATORS Jul 21, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed July 3, 1956 United States Patent VENTILATORS Ignatius John 'OHea, Surbiton, England, assignor to Colt Ventilation Limited, Surbiton, England, a British com- P y Application July 3, 1956, Serial No. 595,689

Claims priority, application Great Britain July 6, 1955 2 Claims. (Cl. 98-42) This invention relates to ventilators and more particularly to a ventilator adapted to cover an opening in the roof of a building and forming a throat above said opening which is screened by a covering member and by the Walls of said ventilator and including a baffle spaced from said roof.

With existing ventilators it has been found that when subjected to bad weather conditions consisting of heavy rain and high wind such as are experienced for example during a monsoon, rain splashing 01f the roof will tend to enter the ventilator apertures.

One of the objects of the present invention is to overcome this disadvantage.

According to the present invention a ventilator is provided with a baflle and with an anti-splash guard associated with the ventilator aperture, said baffle and said anti-splash guard being so located relative to each other, to the said aperture and to the roof on which the ventilator is situated, that the whole or a large proportion of the infinite number of substantially parabolic curved paths of rain drop splashes which could result from rain drops and which would otherwise pass through the said aperture are intercepted by the said anti-splash guard. The ventilator may have at least one variable aperture provided with an adjustable covering member hingedly mounted on said ventilator to co-operate with a wall of said ventilator to provide a variable upwardly extending aperture between said wall and said covering member the height of which last mentioned aperture may be determined by the position of said covering member. A baffle is associated with the ventilators variable aperture on the outside thereof and an anti-splash guard may be provided at said variable aperture, said baflie and said antisplash guard being so located relative to each other, to

the variable aperture and to the roof in which the ventilator is situated, that for an aperture up to a predetermined size the whole or a large proportion of the infinite number of substantially parabolic curved paths of rain drop splashes able to pass under the said baffle and which splashes would otherwise pass through the said aperture are intercepted by the said anti-splash guard. Referring to the drawings filed herewith:

Fig. 1 is a section through a ventilator made in accordance with the present invention,

Fig. 2 is a perspective view partly broken away of another form of ventilator made in accordance with the present invention,

Fig. 3 is a section of the line IlI--III of Fig. 2 and showing half of the ventilator, t

Fig. 4 is a section through half of a further form of ventilator made in accordance with the present invention,

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of the ventilator shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section of Fig. 1.

Referring now to Fig. 1, the ventilator comprises a boxlike member adapted to be fitted over a rectangular ventilating aperture. Two channel members 1 are provided on ice two opposed walls of the ventilating aperture. Each of the channel members is disposed with its web substantially vertical and with its flanges 5 substantially horizontal and directly outwardly, the webs of the two channel members are secured by welding or the like in opposite directions. Two end walls 12 extend between the ends of the channel members 1. Two ventilator end plates 7 are secured by welding or the like to the edges of the channel member. The two channel members and the two end walls 12 define a throat above the ventilating aperture. The two ventilator end plates 7 project beyond the upper flanges of the two channels and outwardly beyond the edges of said flanges and are spaced outwardly from the end walls 12.

A throat covering member 9 is disposed between and abuts each of the two end plates 7 so as to be disposed at the mouth orifice of the throat and close the latter. The free longitudinal edges 11 of the covering members are spaced from and disposed substantially vertically above the outer edges of the upper flanges 5 of the channels 1. Said covering member 9 comprises a pair of flaps hinged along one intermittently beaded longitudinal edge 9a to a supporting bar 10a mounted on the end walls 12 to form a hinge pin, and a U-shaped resilient hinge cover 19a secured by its borders to the flaps 9 adjacent the beaded hinge 9a by rivets 1% or the like in well known manner the cover 19a extending the length of the hinge. The hinging assembly forms no part of the present invention and means described infra is provided whereby the angle of the flaps can be adjusted to thus adjust the size of the mouth opening. A substantially vertical baflie 15 is disposed outwardly of each of the mouth openings and each baflle 15 is spaced from the edges 11 of the covering member 9 and from the edges of the upper flange 5 of the adjacent channel 1 the lower projecting flange 17 of the baflle 15 being disposed in a plane lower than the edge of the upper flange 5 of the channel and the upper projeoting flange 21 of the baflle 15 being disposed in a plane higher than the edge 11 of the mouth covering member 9. Said baffles 15 also extend between and abut at the edges thereof the two end plates 7. The anti-splash guard 23 is formed as a substantially arcuate channel consisting of two arms 25 and 27 extending from the bight of the channel the angle between the ends of the arcuate channel being approximately One arm 25 of said arcuate channel is shorter than the other arm 27 and nearly half the length of the latter. Arm 25 is flat for about a third of its length from the point of junction with the other arm and gently curved in a regular curve from there to its outer extremity. This anti-splash guard 23 is secured in position by bolts 23' or welded or otherwise secured in any desired and obvious manner, which forms no part of the present invention, to the upper flange 5 of the channel 1 so that the flat portion of its arm 25 abuts the outer edge of said flange 5. Consequently the anti-splash guard 23 extends inwardly through the mouth opening between the channel 1 and the end of covering member 9 into the throat of the ventilator with convex arm 27 projecting in the direction of the ventilating aperture to be covered by the ventilator. The anti-splash guards 23 are secured at the edges to the end plates 7 and suitable: drainage means may be provided for carrying away any water collected between the arms thereof.

We have found the following relations satisfactory in ventilators made in accordance with the invention. A horizontal datum line D is taken which is about 7%" from the center line and about 12" from the bottom of the ventilator. Assuming all edges are measured clockwise and from the vertical, the following points are obtained for a ventilating aperture 18" x 30":

A at about 205 to, and about 9 /2" from D. B at about 205 to, and about 7" from D.

C at about 163 to, and about 4%" from D. E at about 28 to, and about 5" from D.

where In use during heavy weather such as occurs during a monsoon rain splashes are unable to pass directly into the throat through the said openings and are trapped by the anti-splash guards which are suitably drained.

The channels may be inclined toward each other away from the aperture. 7

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 2 and 3 the ventilator covers a rectangular opening in the roof. Two angle channel members or side walls 2 of general L section are secured back to back and spaced from each other on the longitudinal sides of the opening. The two limbs of each angle channel member inscribe an angle of approximately 100. A longitudinal V-shaped furrow 4 is pressed at the center of the transverse limb and the free end of this limb turned over or folded to make a double thickness edge 6. The top of the longitudinal limb is turned out or bent through an angle of approximately 135 to form a downwardly diverging longitudinal flange 8. A second longitudinal flange 10 is formed on the free edge of the flange 8 ,by turning it down through 90. Two end walls 12 are secured to the side walls 2 to complete the frame of the ventilator. The end walls 12 are shaped like the gable ends of a house and support a ridge pole 13 therebetween. Ridge pole 13 is of inverted mushroom crosssection and carries two covering flaps 14 hingedly mounted thereon. Each of said covering flaps 14 comprises a plane portion 16, one longitudinal edge of which has been turned over to provide a stop 18 cooperating with the vertical stem 19 of the ridge pole 13 and the other edge of which has been formed into an upstanding hook shaped member 20, and two downwardly depending end portions 14' which fit outside the end walls 12 when the flap is closed and inside the end plates 26. Said covering flap 14 is secured to the stem 19 of the ridge pole by hinges 22 riveted to the flap 14 and bolted to the stem 19. Said covering flaps 14 are adapted to be moved by any known control means from a closed position in which they rest on the flanges 8 of the side walls 2 to a fully open position in which the hooked portions touch each other above the ridge pole 13. A horizontal bracket 24 is secured halfway up each end wall 12. Said horizontal brackets 24 run from one side of the end Wall to the other and are effective to form a support for end plates 26. Each end plate '26 is a plane sheet of metal which extends beyond the double thickness edge 6 of the end wall 2 on each side of the ventilator and which also extends above the ridge pole 13 to a height equal to that of the covering flaps 14 when they are fully opened into the vertical position. Supported between the two end plates 26, one on each side of the ventilator, are two baifles 28. Each said baflle is of inverted L section, the top transverse limb of the L section being shorter than the stern which is substantially vertical. Said baffles 28 face inwards and extend from the top of the end plates 26 to the bottom thereof, thus protecting the aperture formed by part opening the covering flap from any rain which would otherwise drive in sideways.

The longitudinal edges of the baffles are turned over to embrace rods 30, on which they are supported in the end plates 26. Two guards 32 are secured to the end plates 26 inside the baffles 28. Said guards have the form of curved shields and are secured to the end plates 26 by flanges 34. The baflies 28 and the guards 32 are so arranged relative to each other and to the aperture which is formed when the covering member 14 is raised that rain drops splashing up old? the roof of the building or the transverse limbs of the walls 2 will be prevented from entering the said aperture.

During fine weather the covering members 14 may be raised fully until there is a substantially unobstructed view through the ventilator. As soon as the covering members are lowered until they are beneath the upper edge of the battles 28 no rain can enter the ventilator from above since any slanting in sideways will be traveling in the wrong direction and it is unlikely that any will splash backoff the baffles 28, unless the rain is very heavy in which case the covering flaps are sufliciently lowered until there is no possibility of this occurring. Any splashes which would tend to rise up off the roof will be deflected by the guard 32 and the ventilator may thus be left open sufficiently to allow adequate ventilation of the building while preventing the entry of the rain.

The hooked portions 20 on said covering members 14 are adapted to act as drains and to prevent rain water being blown up the said covering flap and carried over the free edge to run down inside. Said hooked portions 26 act as a channel shaped drain when the covering flaps have been raised past the horizontal position. The end portions 14 will prevent rain blown along the ventilator from entering under the covering flap when said flap is partially closed.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 4 covering flaps 40 are hinged at their upper ends to a trough shaped channel 42 and are downwardly curved over side walls 44. End portions 46 are secured to the covering flaps 40 and fit outside the walls 44. End plates 48 and baffles 50 are secured and positioned over the throat as in the second embodiment of this invention and a curved antisplash guard 52 is secured between the said end plates 48. The baffles 50, guard 52, covering flap 40 and side walls 44 are so arranged relative to each other and to the aperture of the ventilator that rain drops splashing up off the roof of the building cannot enter the said aperture.

One of the advantages of this embodiment is that the overall height of the ventilator above the roof in which it is set is less than in either of the other two embodiments.

The opening mechanism which is identical for all embodiments although only shown in Figure 1, comprises a tube 60 serving as a guide for a link chain 62. Each link has teeth 64 adapted to be engaged by a worm wheel 66 mounted on a shaft 68 journalled in bearings carried on the bracket 60 which is centrally positioned in the ventilator and also acts as a strengthening member. The shaft 68 carries a pulley 72 having a groove wherein an operating cord 74 is positioned. The end of the chain 62 carries a pin 75 guided in a slot 76 in the tube 60. Pin 75 carries a bar 77 coupled by links 78 to a bracket 80 on the underside of the flaps 9. In operation, the opening and closing of the flaps 9 is efiected by pulling on the cord 74 to rotate the shaft 68 in the desired direction.

Thus it will be seen that any of the three forms of ventilator made as described above may be used in climates where there is very heavy rain to provide ventilation in the roof of a building without allowing the rain splashes to enter the said ventilator.

Having thus described the invention it should be apparent that same is subject to modifications obvious to any one skilled in the art.

What is claimed is:

1. A roof ventilator including channel shaped lateral throat above and around the roof opening, ventilator end plates secured to and spaced outwardly from the said end walls, arcuate splash guards, means mounting the arcuate portion of the guard on the upper flanges of the channels so that a portion of each guard extends over the throat and extends above the level of the opposite sides portion of each guard, a pair of substantially vertical bafiles, on said ventilator end plates spaced outwardly from said splash guards, each said baffle having a substantially horizontal inwardly projecting flange at the top, cover means mounted above said throat and beneath said inwardly projecting flanges and extending substantially over the throat between the end walls and mounted on said end walls, said cover being wider than the space between the edges of the inwardly extending portions of said splash guards and wider than the distance between the edges of the horizontal inwardly projecting flanges of said baflles.

2. A roof ventilator including channel shaped lateral members mounted on opposite sides of a roof opening with their web portions extending substantially vertically and with their flanges extending away from the opening, end walls secured to the longitudinal ends of the channels, the two channels and the two end Walls forming a throat above and around the roof opening, ventilator end plates secured to and spaced outwardly from said end walls, arcuate splash guards, means mounting the arcuate portion of the guards on the upper flanges of the channels, so that a portion of each guard extends over the throat above the level of the opposite side portion of each guard, a pair of substantially vertical baffles on said ventilator end plates spaced outwardly from said splash guards each of said baflles comprising substantially horizontal inwardly projecting flanges at the top, cover means mounted above said throat comprising a pair of covering flaps, each hingedly mounted on a common hinge extending substantially between and carried by said end wall, said hinge extending along the longitudinal axis of the throat, said pair of covering flaps extending to the inwardly extending portions of said splash guards to determine the size of the passage to said throat between fully closed and fully open positions when said flaps are substantially vertical, the width of each of said covering flaps being slightly smaller than the distance between said hinge and the edge of the inwardly projecting flange of the adjacent balfle, said flaps when between the edges of the baflies and the edges of the splash guards providing a cover wider than the space between the edges of the splash guards and between the edges of the baffle flanges.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,100,785 McDerment Nov. 30, 1937 2,127,099 Whitaker Aug. 16, 1938 2,214,183 Seymour Sept. 10, 1940 2,232,027 Gunter Feb. 18, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS 427,904 Great Britain Nov. 6, 1934 727 Australia Feb. 26, 1936 727,817 Great Britain Apr. 6, 1955 

